10/22 Local Roundup

Clovis man sentenced for forgery, fraud
A Clovis man on Friday was sentenced to four years in jail for forgery and fraud, according to a press release from the 9th Judicial District Attorney’s Office.

Lawrence Caldwell, 42, signed his name to a check his former employer reported missing in January 2004, according to the release. The check was for $860.49, the release said.

Caldwell was deemed a repeat offender based on two prior felony convictions, the release said.

Costume dance at Portales Recreation Center
There will be a costume dance from 7 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. today at the Portales Recreation Center at 1001 W. 18th St.
Recreation center employees are asking for a $3 per person donation.

The dance will be supervised and chaperoned and music is by The Chaser. Costume is encouraged, but not required.

There will be a drawing for prizes and a costume contest.

Social justice presentation to be held Sunday
There will be a presentation of research papers, documents and oral history titled, “The Struggle for Social Justice in Roosevelt County 1965-1980,” Sunday in Portales.

It gets under way at 4 p.m. at the Memorial Building at Seventh and Abilene. Dinner will be provided by Las Manos Amigas.

According to organizer Dolores Penrod of Portales, it will bring together many of the people who actively worked for the cause of social justice in this area during the 1960s and 1970s.

According to Penrod, participants will be coming from as far away as New Hampshire, Colorado and New Mexico to take part in the event.

This is an opportunity to see, touch, and add your remembrances and corrections to the papers before they are presented to the Special Collections at Eastern New Mexico University, she said.

Clovis teenager indicted for vehicular homicide
A Clovis teenager who survived a car accident that killed his passenger was indicted by a grand jury Friday for driving while intoxicated and vehicular homicide, according to a press release from the 9th Judicial District Attorney’s Office.

A grand jury found probable cause to charge Shad Defoor, 19, in connection with the July 24 death of his brother-in-law, Aaron Gonzales, 23. Defoor’s blood-alcohol content was almost twice the legal limit, the release said.

New Mexico State Police officials said Gonzales was a passenger in a Ford Mustang being driven by Defoor that was traveling east on Curry Road 14. Defoor failed to stop at an intersection and a pickup truck traveling north struck the Mustang on the passenger side, the release from the district attorney’s office said.

Gonzales was the only person to die in the accident, according to the district attorney’s office.

Defoor did not return a call from the CNJ seeking comment.
Defoor will be arraigned within 30 days, the release said; he faces a punishment of six years in state prison, the release said.